The Mitragliatrice Breda calibro 8 modello 38 per carri armati was an Italian tank-pattern

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

used in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

on the Fiat L6/40, the

Fiat M11/39 The Carro Armato M11/39 was an Italian medium tank first produced prior to World War II. The M11/39 saw service in Africa and Italy (1939–1944). The official Italian designation was Carro Armato (armoured vehicle) M11/39. The designation for t ...

and the

Fiat M13/40 The Carro Armato M13/40 was an Italian World War II tank designed to replace the M11/39 in the Italian Army at the start of World War II. It was the primary tank used by the Italians throughout the war. The design was influenced by the British Vi ...

. It was also adapted as infantry machine gun. The M38 is based upon the

Breda M37 The Mitragliatrice Breda calibro 8 modello 37 (commonly known as the Breda mod. 37 or simply Breda 37) was an Italian Medium machine gun produced by Breda and adopted in 1937 by the Royal Italian Army. It was the standard heavy machine gun for t ...

. The Breda 38 received the German identification code Kampfwagen-Maschinengewehr 350(i).

Development

The Italians have also adapted it for use as an infantry machine gun. For this purpose the gun is mounted on a machine-gun tripod...by means of an adapter, and is fitted with a temporary rear sight on the right of the body and a temporary front sight on the right of the barrel at the muzzle. These temporary open sights take the place of the optical sight used when the gun is tank-mounted.

Design details

The gun is air-cooled, gas-operated, and magazine-fed, and has a quick-change barrel. Its operational features are simple, and it is extremely easy to field-strip or disassemble completely. The barrel is sufficiently heavy (4,5 kg) to enable it to fire a large number of rounds in quick succession without overheating.

References

External links

Breda Model 38 Variant
8×59mm RB Breda machine guns Breda weapons Gas-operated firearms Tank guns World War II infantry weapons of Italy World War II machine guns Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1938 {{Machinegun-stub